The Crimson Sky
by Fallen Angel Of The Forgotten
Summary: Spoilers for manga chapter 390. The flame in his chest had always burned whenever a friend needed his help. But now the flame has become an inferno, demanding Tsuna clamp his claws down on Reborn and keep him safe. Dame Tsuna has vanished, and in his place, a stronger man stands. Slight R27 hints.


**A.N. - **I didn't do the last chapter because I didn't think you guys would appreciate having me re-tell every single chapter, but this one… it just called to me. I'll try to make this my last one.

**Summary: **Spoilers for manga chapter 390. The flame in his chest had always burned whenever a friend needed his help. But now the flame has become an inferno, demanding Tsuna clamp his claws down on Reborn and keep him safe. Dame Tsuna has vanished, and in his place, a stronger man stands. Slight R27 hints.

The Crimson Sky

Tsuna wakes up the next morning, and knows something has changed. Not outwardly, no; the world in itself is still in once piece, and things while chaotic, have not changed. The change is inward. He feels it, understands it, and knows it for what it is. Within him burns the same flame that has always burned whenever a friend has needed his help. Except now it is no longer a simple flame. It has become an inferno, a wild beast hell-bent on destroying Checkerface and Bermuda and his schemes.

It stalks behind the caged walls of Tsuna's heart, snarling and growling, golden eyes flaring as its mane blows in a breeze that is not there. It _demands, _hungers, wants. But Tsuna presses down on it; _no, no, not yet, not where there is still so much to do, _and the beast settles, content for now.

Kyoko greets him with the airy cheerfulness he has come to associate with her. Yet somehow it feels different today. She feels different. Solid. More… real.

To him, Kyoko has always been a cheerful, friendly girl, but she had been a bit air-headed as well. Now however, he sees her, listens to her speak, and feels something like weight coming from her words. The weight drops itself on him, comforting and _there, _and Tsuna pushes back his assertive side, and lets his normal stuttering voice rise. "I-I'm okay!" He knows that for all her sudden realness, he still can't get her involved. She's not strong enough, though some day she might be.

"May I see that omamori we made?" She asks, stretching her hand out to take it. He nods and digs into his pocket, feeling ashamed at the dirtiness of the gift.

"I-I'm sorry it's so filthy…"

She smiles though, and asks to keep it for a while, to add more charms to it. She agrees to give it back that night, before he goes into battle. Chrome comes then, and picks Kyoko-chan up.

With the girls gone, he brushes himself off and lets everything flow. It feels so strange, the weight in his chest, but it is real, it is solid, and he will keep it because it is proof of his conviction, his Dying Will.

Last night, he remembers, he went and called the Ninth, and asked where Talbot was. He had been surprised when the man had said the Chaser had gone to Japan. From there, Nono had told him his location, and then it had been a matter of Tsuna flying off to the man's house.

"Welcome, young Vongola." Talbot had chuckled at him, the way an elder greets a youngster. He had smiled, full of knowledge, and instructed Tsuna to sit while he wove his tale. And so Tsuna had told him of Bermuda's truths and desires, of his plans, of Tsuna's own feelings and Reborn's willingness to give up. He spoke of it all, and at the end, expressed his idea of re-injecting the correct Dying Will Flames into the pacifiers to keep the Arcobaleno alive.

Talbot had not shot him down immediately; a fact for which Tsuna was grateful. But he had cautioned that they had no idea if it would work or not. That had put Tsuna on edge, but Talbot had still left him a thread to cling to, solid and real.

"Listen to me, Vongola. If you allow Bermuda to win this war we won't be able to do _anything. _His hatred is too powerful; he refuses to think of anything other than defeating Checker Face and doing away with the whole system as a method of accomplishing his vengeance." Talbot had whispered to him, quick and full of something Tsuna felt surging into him like fire. Suddenly it was just like Reborn when he gave orders, when he spoke of what Tsuna _could _and _would _do. The words were ancient and heavy like chains, and clung to his form long after Tsuna had left.

"_**Win against Bermuda's team. Only you are capable of doing this."**_

And Tsuna had bowed his head, and let the words make the flames in his chest go higher, and burn hotter than ever before.

Now a new voice joins, and Tsuna whirls around to find Reborn standing there, hands on his hips, glaring at him. "What are you still doing here, Tsuna? School is starting!"

"Reborn! D-did you just get back home? I ask because the direction you came from…"

"Yeah. We couldn't come to an agreement." Reborn sighs, like there's a weight on him as well, except its reaction negatively. "I said I wanted to consider becoming Bermuda's ally, Verde, Mammon and Colonnello decided otherwise. I punched Verde because he was annoying, and it became a scuffle. Fon and Yuni tried to mediate, but Mammon's illusions accidently hit Yuni, so we had to take her to the hospital. We split up after that, and forgot to make up."

Tsuna has to resist screaming. Is this how Reborn feels when his Guardians bicker? The thought that Reborn and the Arcobaleno arguing about something like how they plan to _die _makes the beast in his chest growl and bare its fangs.

The fire in him burns a bit hotter, and so Tsuna asks, "Do you really want to be Bermuda's ally?"

Reborn blinks at him, stating in a simple tone, "Well if I'm going to die no matter what, it would be a good idea to destroy the system while I'm at it."

Something in Tsuna snaps. His head lowers, and his voice wavers a bit, going quiet. "Get on my shoulder, Reborn. You and I need to talk."

Reborn frowns, but hops on his shoulder. They take off.

Tsuna lands at a nearby temple; the same temple that served as their hideout in the future that never happened. Reborn peers up at him inquisitively. "Why did we come here?"

"I don't want the other students to find us." Tsuna clips his answer short, trying to tamper down on the beast which has once again begun to stalk and move.

"Wait, does that mean you aren't going to school?"

Tsuna nods. "I'm skipping today."

And suddenly Reborn is all arrogance again, slipping back into the guise of his tutor. "What makes you think I, as your tutor, will allow such a thing?"

Tsuna thinks it might be the arrogance that does it, or the assumption that perhaps after everything that he has said and done, Reborn thinks he can still act as Tsuna's tutor. All Tsuna knows is that the flame is suddenly _alive, _the beast is out, and it's going after Reborn.

He hears his own voice, loud and brazen, the voice not of a boy named Dame Tsuna, but of a boss that is royally and thoroughly _pissed._

"How can you possibly say that?"

Reborn actually jerks back, staring up at him in confusion, and a bit of shock. "Tsuna, why are you getting upset?"

"Isn't it obvious? You suddenly show up one day claiming to be a tutor for the greatest mafia family alive, saying you plan on making me into a mafia boss. _Me, _Dame Tsuna! You humiliate and degrade me, push me to meet people I have no interest in, force me into demanding battles and constantly berate me for the smallest things! You force me to confess to the girl I love, drag me through hellish Spartan training methods and make a disaster of my school life!"

It's coming out all at once, like a raging tempest that won't be stopped. Reborn is staring at him, actually listening for once. Tsuna can feel he has his tutor's attention for once, his _whole _attention, and he's going to use this to teach Reborn a very valuable lesson.

"But you know… if I get right down to it and think about everything, even as close as yesterday… I had _fun_. I really…" he looks Reborn square in the eye, letting his Will burn white-hot. "had fun. And you know, sometimes I even felt _happy _that I had you as a tutor."

Reborn blinks, shock painting his eyes. But Tsuna doesn't let it fade, doesn't give it a chance to, because he is _pressing _against Reborn with his Will and his will, enforcing a law with his voice and leaving no opportunity for the man before him to slip in and stop him. "Yet you say you never expect to die a decent death! Have you really been thinking that the whole time you've been by my side? Even when we were all having fun, laughing and making those memories, is that _all you've been thinking about?_ Because if so," Tsuna draws himself up here, lets his claws tighten around Reborn in possessive need. _Mine, mine all __**mine. **_"Then you are an absolute _failure _as a home tutor."

It is here that Tsuna catches it; looking into Reborn's eyes, never looking away or breaking the gaze, he realizes he's rattled Reborn all the way down to the core. Reborn knows Tsuna, and Tsuna would never do this. He would never sneak behind Reborn's back and talk about ways to keep Reborn alive, even though he clearly said Tsuna doesn't need to die for them, even though there is no way out, even though…

There are so many excuses, and Tsuna has grown tired of them all. He's tired of having to take abuse, having to listen to what needs to be done and what _will _and _won't _happen, all according to Reborn's word. He's tired of looking down at Reborn, instead of looking up at him. But most of all, he's tired of seeing Reborn, and realizing _this is the man who gave up; my home tutor gave up on me. _

And so he's doing what Reborn has groomed him for, has made him study and learn for. He's stepping up as the boss, and refusing to yield to anyone. Reborn is seeing it, on some level, but on every other level, he's only seeing Tsuna tightening those claws around him, bearing his fangs at those around him, and he's thinking, _why? Why all this, just for us?_

He doesn't understand, Tsuna thinks, but he will. Tsuna will make him understand. He'll keep pressing with this Will that burns through him, keep claiming every inch of Reborn until there's nothing left for Checker Face to kill or Bermuda to take. He'll claim and he'll take and he won't give an inch, and Reborn will eventually be safe again. Because Reborn is _his, _was made for him and will always be his, and it is his right as the man's student to protect him and sacrifice any part of him that Reborn needs to keep breathing.

"This time," Tsuna says, and looks down at him, not as a student to a teacher, but as a boss to a subordinate, "**I **will teach **you." **

He sits down then, because his legs will no longer hold him. Reborn sits down as well, looking lost and yet accepting at the same time. He's gulping in tiny spurts, eyes never staying in one spot for too long as he plays with a stick beside him.

He's starting to see it. Bit by bit. But it's still not enough.

And so Tsuna puts speaks again, and this time puts enough Dying Will into his voice to where even Reborn, with all his incredible abilities and feats, won't be able to push it off as just nonsense.

"Reborn."

"Hm."

"_**I'm not gonna let you die." **_Tsuna says, and deep within him the beast roars and unsheathes its claws.


End file.
